Loss of hair is for most people something that they would not willingly wish to happen. However it is something that criminals are prepared to do if it helps them succeed.

One such person is a man who is on trial for murder, and is reported to have manufactured symptoms of cancer which include loss of hair.

The evidence came to light when a nurse with whom the accused was in a relationship told the court that the man feigned symptoms of cancer. He told the nurse he was undergoing chemotherapy for lymphocytic leukaemia. To keep up the pretence, the man deliberately lost weight and removed portions of his own hair.

He also is alleged to have punctured his own arm in order to fake blood tests.

The case surrounds the death of the man’s first wife. He told the nurse that she had died in a car accident; she was also carrying the couple’s child at the time.

The nurse told the court: “I just felt I had never met anyone who had been so unlucky in their life, to be bereaved and gone through everything else and on top of that to have a terminal illness.”

The prosecutor of the case however told the court that the man had murdered his wife by drugging her and staging a car accident. He is also accused of the attempted murder of his second wife in order to perpetrate a life insurance fraud.

During cross examination the nurse was shown a photograph of the accused showing his shaved hair and eye brows. She was asked: “Does that shock you?”

She replied: “It did and it does to see it now.”

The accused denies all charges. The trial continues.